by Howard Campbell
KINGSTON, Jamaica – When music producer David Ireland wrote lyrics to the song Silly Thoughts, he wanted the artist who performed it to perfectly project its provocative message. He selected firebrand roots singjay Queen Ifrica who shares his concern about sexual abuse of girls in Jamaica.
Silly Thoughts was released in late 2019 by Ireland Records, the company Ireland started three years ago in Kingston, Jamaica’s capital.
“The song is about men who prey on little girls an’ we have a lot of that going on in Jamaica. It has the right message but I wanted someone who could carry that message,” said Ireland.
Queen Ifrica has consistently hit out against men who sexually exploit girls. Daddy, a song from her 2009 album Montego Bay, beseeched a father for inappropriately touching his child.
Sexual abuse of minors is rife in Jamaica. The police’s Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA), which monitors such crimes, said over 370 cases of molestation were reported in the Caribbean country by June last year.
Ireland, a father of two daughters, says the positive response to Silly Thoughts is evidence Jamaicans are angered by this high incidence of male delinquency.
“It’s something that needs to be addressed; I know the authorities are clamping down but much more needs to be done,” he said.
The 37 year-old Ireland is from Seaview Gardens, a tough community near the Kingston waterfront. As a boy he and his older brother accompanied their mother to the market where they sold vegetables and other produce.
That small enterprise grew to Ireland Farm and Supplies, a company that distributes potatoes, onions, escallion, etc to some of Jamaica’s leading hotels.
Seaview Gardens has produced a number of hardcore dancehall acts including Grammy winner Shabba Ranks, Bounty Killer and the Scare Dem Crew.
Their success inspired Ireland to launch Ireland Records which has worked with several top artists including Beenie Man and Lutan Fyah, as well as aspiring artists from Seaview Gardens.
“As a youth from the ghetto I just wanted to help. Every time a youth do music it help take him away from a life of crime,” he said.
